Cinemusings - Rot Your Brain

BATMAN: WAR ON CRIME
Zakarya Anwar

The ever-popular creative team of Alex Ross and Paul Dini come together once more to deliver this Batman tale about the little people in Gotham.

Alex Ross (Marvels, Kingdom Come) is as awesome as always. Alex Ross’ art is the work that kick started the painted approach to comic book artwork, and Da Vinci and all those artists who share names with the Turtles pale in comparison to him, as far as I’m concerned. It’s incredibly detailed and realistic. I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of seeing his ‘superheroes in the real world’ approach to how his characters look. Bruce Wayne is Bruce Wayne - exactly the way you would imagine him to look were he a real person, and the cloth costume that Alex Ross loves to paint proves why we don’t need body armour with a toy-selling amount of detail in our Batman movies.

Paul Dini (Superman: Peace on Earth, Liberty and Justice) writes a moody piece, with the Batman brooding about one thing or another. I couldn’t help but feel that the first ten sides were just filler, establishing a character that is already well established. He goes into too much detail, I feel, about how the Batman operates, although if this book is written with new readers in mind, then I can well understand it.

Although, in my opinion, the story doesn’t add much to the Batman character over all, the way Paul Dini has portrayed the Bruce Wayne persona as another tool for the Batman to fight crime with was an intriguing concept, and Paul Dini delivers this with satisfaction.

One thing, however, really got under my skin, as small as it is. The first two pages are later reprinted in JLA: Secret Origins, which strikes me as a slight against the reader. I, for one, have both War on Crime and Secret Origins, and the fact that I’ve paid cash to read reprinted pages, Alex Ross art or no, is galling.

Despite these problems, as I said, the artwork is awesome and Paul Dini is still a great writer, so much so that you could easily forgive the shortcomings I’ve listed above. Even under forty pages, this graphic novel is worth the cover price solely for the artwork. It being penned by the Batman: the Animated Series, Batman Beyond and Lost writer, you can take as an added bonus.

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